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…Anemia affects 1.6 billion people worldwide and causes more than 1 million deaths per year, mostly women and children in low-resource settings in the developing world. Treatment for anemia is well known and widely available. The problems include timely detection, regular monitoring and compliance of treatment. Solution ToucHb empowers village health workers in the developing world with a simple, needle-free, hand-held, battery-operated device to quickly check for and periodically monitor hemoglobin levels in women and children at the point of care. Proof of concept for this non-invasive anemia device consisted of developing and refining the ToucHb device, validating it in both clinical and field settings, and setting up processes to comply with ISO 13485 and European regulatory standards. Outcome The project resulted in the development and validation of a robust, affordable and accurate, non-invasive anemia screening…

This project proposes an innovative approach to decrease the risks of babies born to HIV-infected adolescent mothers, to improve long-term outcomes. The project utilizes HIV-positive "Mentor Mothers", trained as peer counsellors to provide care and support to HIV-positive adolescent mothers and their children up to age two, through weekly home visits, daily SMS reminders, assistance at facilities and support groups. The young mother receives nutritional supplements for babies over six months, information and psychosocial support, providing the knowledge, support and skills to enhance her child's physical, cognitive and well-being, and helping prevent mother-to-child transmission…

Accurate detection of arboviruses in mosquitoes is critical in determining the force of infection, monitoring the efficacy of interventions, and allocating appropriate resources to transmission hotspots. To date, no technique for arbovirus detection has been shown practical, cost effective, and rapid enough to be scaled up for arbovirus surveillance by mosquito-borne disease control programs.Our team proposes to test the ability of near infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) for the surveillance of arbovirus infections in mosquitoes.…

Depression is the most frequently encountered mental health disorder in Pakistan. Due to the stigma associated with mental health diseases, those who suffer often remain undiagnosed, misdiagnosed or untreated. There is an urgency to develop new interventions to increase early detection and treatment of mental illness, especially in the case of disease co-morbidity. The widespread use of mobile phones provides a unique opportunity for the implementation of mHealth in Pakistan, allowing cost-effective, efficient and integrated screening and detection, analysis and follow-up in a context of high patient volumes. This project will focus on three community-based lung health centres in Karachi, a city with an estimated population of 20 million.…

…the restraint, seclusion, neglect and abuse — physical, sexual, and emotional — of mental health patients is the goal of a project in India’s Gujarat state nominated for a Grand Challenges Canada grant of up to CDN $2 million.Working in six facilities — three mental health hospitals, two psychiatric units in general hospitals, and the psychiatric unit at a district general hospital, which…outcomes could be substantial.”Adds co-principal investigator Akwatu Khenti, of Toronto’s Centre for Addiction and Mental Health: “CAMH has extensive experience and expertise in anti-stigmatizing, evidence-based care that will inform this project — an initiative with global significance because of the exemplary collaborative / participatory involvement of patients and families at the core of the approach.”

Child development is approached differently in developed countries than in the developing world. In high income nations standardized instruments are used to monitor children’s development, risk factors are assessed and children are provided with a tailored intervention. In contrast, developmental monitoring in developing countries is uncommon. Interventions, when they exist, are often generic, such as counselling all mothers in providing stimulation. This project aims to prove that an individualized approach for promoting child development, similar to that used in high-income countries, can be applied with beneficial effect to a health system in a developing nation, where Community Health Workers…services within an impoverished community.  This will be done by implementing the renowned International Guide for Monitoring Child Development (IGMCD) in a community based health program. The research is designed to provide evidence that use of the IGMCD by Community Health Workers (CHWs) in a home visitation program leads to a greater focus on the developmental needs…

…obesity. In 2004, more than half of all deaths in SSA were caused by infectious conditions and one-quarter by NCDs. By 2030, mortality from NCDs will rise to 46%. There are currently very few programs focused on reducing the incidence of NCDs in SSA by acting on risk factors such as diet. Solution The idea…surveys and focus groups from three of the schools showed that students improved their nutrition and health habits, specifically by increasing the intake of fruit and vegetables. For example, a number of the students reported an increase from 0–1 servings to 5–6 servings of fruits per day. A reduction in the number of sick days,…vegetable intake. Knowledge was disseminated at a number of conferences and through the International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity (IJBNPA). The team plans to scale up this innovation in 164 public secondary schools. Contracts have been established with ten secondary schools that will be paying for the Nutrido program over the next two…

…of trust in, and access to, critical information about new agricultural technologies and development programs/sustainable practices. Solution Implemented in Kenya, the project developed a mobile phone application to be used by farmers in accessing information on improved agricultural technologies for vegetables and fruits. The overall purpose of the project was to empower farmers to participate in the agricultural innovation process, foster trust with key agriculture players, and…

Issue Rainwater harvesting (RWH) has considerable potential to address the shortage of potable water that affects an estimated 1.1 billion people worldwide. RWH is prevalent in parts of Africa, Latin America and Asia, and is used by tens of millions of people. In coastal Bangladesh, rainwater is collected and stored in large cisterns for use during the four to six months of the dry season. However, water is often contaminated during the collection and storage process, causing many health problems for…and interviewed users and developers of those systems. Outcome Extensive analysis led the research team to conclude that minimizing water contamination during collection and storage, vis-à-vis a superior collection system, would be the most cost-effective and scalable solution. The project team successfully designed both manually-operated and automatic rooftop-collection system concepts that, together with a crude filtration system (made with local fabrics, such as Sari), can considerably improve microbial quality of…